Hoteliers' Guide to Responding to Online Reviews

Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews

By: Travel Media Group (March 2015) Table of Contents

Why are Online Reviews Important?...... 3

How to Respond to Online Reviews...... 4

Review Sites 101...... 7 TripAdvisor ...... 7 Google Plus...... 9 Yelp...... 10 Expedia ...... 11 Hotels.com...... 12 Orbitz...... 13 Booking.com...... 14

Next Steps For Success...... 15

Sources...... 16

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2 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Why are Online Reviews Important?

In an increasingly digital world, Internet reviews have come to be the main source of information for potential travelers. Online review sites aren’t simply what people are saying about your hotel, they’re the collective word-of-mouth for your brand.

The predominant way to reach customers is scores.4 According to study published in the At Travel Media Group, we help hoteliers changing as traveler’s are accessing multiple Cornell Hospitality Report, a 1-star increase manage online reviews to increase their screens to complete their research and in your online ratings gives you the ability to occupancy rates. Founded in 1982 as a booking. They are also accessing multiple raise your rates by 11% without seeing any marketing company specializing in the hotel sites as the average traveler visits up to decline in conversion. This pricing power is industry, our online reputation management 38 websites before booking.1 Of these 38 even stronger in the economy to midscale solutions focus on providing hoteliers with websites that are viewed during this process, properties because the variation in services the ability to quickly isolate their promoters 5 travel review sites and apps account for up and amenities is more profound. With more and their detractors. Our program helps 2 to 42% of the online sources used. than $340 billion spent on online travel hotels identify areas of improvement offline booking annually, it’s important to leverage while promoting positive online reviews It is also important to understand that 89% positive traveler reviews to increase your which impact ADR. of travelers say reviews are influential when market share.6 choosing where to book.3 Your reviews can have a significant impact on your average If a guest were to approach the front desk In this guide, we will go over best practices daily rate (ADR) as well. If prices for hotels with a question, comment or concern, would for managers to respond to comments are the same, travelers are 3.9 times more you address them directly, or wait for a and reviews left online, breakdowns of likely to choose a hotel with higher review comment card? One of the key factors to important review sites, and tips for keeping scores and 76% of customers are willing leading a successful business is to always be all your pages up-to-date. 7 BeFound & to pay more for a hotel with higher review proactive, not reactive. GetChosen

3 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen How to Respond to Online Reviews

According to a study in 2012, 81% of Why? travelers use TripAdvisor as a source of 77% of respondents said that seeing a hotel management response makes them believe that review information before booking at a the hotel cares more about its guests.9 With that being said, it’s always important to respond hotel.8 Although TripAdvisor is the most to reviews, whether they are positive or negative. In the case of a positive review, all that is frequented site by hoteliers and guests needed is a simple “thank you,” and acknowledgement for their feedback. Let the positive alike, there are numerous other review sites review speak for itself - there is no need to reiterate the guests’ positive comments. that also play a role in booking decisions, such as Google+ and Expedia. Positive Review Response Example We advise hoteliers to respond to all online reviews, regardless of the site of origin, as Don’t say: Thanks for leaving us a review. We absolutely love reviews - especially good ones. every comment is a reflection of your online As you mentioned, our hotel is “the best.” reputation. This includes all online review sites and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). Do say: On behalf of our hotel and staff, thank you for taking the time to leave a positive review. We’re especially glad you enjoyed the ______. We strive to provide excellent service, and we hope to see you again soon!

In the case of a negative review, take the time to apologize for any inconvenience, and inform them that you will be addressing the issue in a timely manner. Always use your own discretion to determine if the issue should be taken care of personally (directly contacting the guest). Keep in mind that your responses will be public and will be seen by potential travelers. 87% of travelers BeFound & 9 who read online reviews say that appropriate manager responses improveGetChosen their view of the hotel.

4 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Who? When?

In most cases, responses should be composed or approved by a We encourage a 24-hour turnaround for responding to online reviews – manager. Responses should be concise, well thought-out and free of the sooner you reach the guest, the sooner you can resolve the issue at any spelling or grammatical errors. In addition, it’s best not to respond hand. Be sure to do a bit of background research on the guest’s stay – emotionally or defensively, and remember that it’s better to win-back a check when they stayed, what room they stayed in, which staff was present, guest than to upset them further. etc. Gather information necessary reach the guest directly in addition to responding to their review online.

Negative Review Response Example Keep in mind that your most recent review will be the first thing potential travelers see on your review page. That’s why it’s so important to have a Don’t say: Why would you say such things about my business?! I don’t show up at your work and yell at you! prompt and thorough manager response.

Do say: We apologize for the inconvenience. We appreciate your Timely Review Response Example feedback and will do our best to resolve the issue as soon as we can. Don’t say: Thank you for your positive feedback, although you stayed with us 2 years ago. We don’t normally look at our TripAdvisor page. Well, better late than never, right? Did you know? Travel Media Group Reputation Management provides a direct link to all review sites in the Reputation Dashboard, as well as Do say: I’m glad to hear you had a pleasant stay with us this last e-mail alerts to notify you of new reviews. weekend. Thank you so much for your feedback about ______. We hope you come back soon.

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5 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen How?

Manager responses should be well thought out and articulate. A good manager response can show that despite any predicament, management is concerned with resolving the issue at hand. Always be sure to thank the customer for their positive feedback, and for taking the time to leave a review. For negative feedback, leave a short apology, if necessary, and reach out to the guest by e-mail to discuss the situation privately.

Keep public posting on a need-to-know basis, only address major concerns at your own discretion, and never bring up the specifics of an individual’s stay.

Negative Review Response Example 2

Don’t say: First of all, it’s not our fault that you had unrealistic expectations. Maybe next time you’ll tell us about a problem before the last day of your trip.

Do say: • Public: Thank you for your feedback. We apologize that your stay was less than desirable, and we’ll be taking steps to resolve the issue.

• Private: We apologize once again for _____ and we will be solving ____. Given the opportunity, we assure you that your next stay will be a better experience. BeFound & GetChosen

6 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Review Sites 101

TripAdvisor Responses TripAdvisor for Business The first step to responding is to claim your TripAdvisor page by registering with the site “TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching 315 as an “owner,” which is TripAdvisor’s title for million unique monthly visitors, and more than 200 million reviews and opinions covering the hotelier. In order to create a TripAdvisor 10 more than 4.4 million accommodations, restaurants, and attractions.” Because the reviews owner’s account, click here and search for on TripAdvisor are written by real travelers with no solicitation, travelers can trust the advice your property in the provided field. Once you that is available. have located and selected your property, please click on the Register for this Business Reviews button. You can log in using a Facebook TripAdvisor is open to the public, provided or Google+ account, or create a brand new that a free account is created on the site. account just for TripAdvisor. Reviewers have a wide range of facets on which to rate the property by leaving feedback Once registered, you can respond to any and indicating the value of the room, location, review on your property’s page. Once you amenities, cleanliness, service and sleep respond, you cannot edit the response, and quality; each are rated on a scale of 1 to 5. you can only have one response at a time per There is a minimum requirement of 200 review. If needed, you can delete the original characters for the review dialogue. manager response and replace it with a revised version. TripAdvisor needs to approve all responsesBe beforeFound they are & published. GetChosen

7 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen TripAdvisor Ranking

TripAdvisor ranks all hotels in a particular area, based on a formula determined by review ratings, number of reviews, and how recently the reviews were published. In order to have the best impact on improving your rank it is not only important to get good ratings, but you also need to ensure travelers are consistently leaving reviews.

Did you know that TripAdvisor ranking also influences booking statistics? • Hotels ranked #10 on TripAdvisor book 10% more room nights than hotels ranked #20. • Hotels ranked #5 on TripAdvisor book 9% more room nights than hotels ranked #10. • Hotels ranked #2 on TripAdvisor book 7% more room nights than hotels ranked #5. • Hotels ranked #1 on TripAdvisor book 11% more room nights than hotels ranked #2.11

How to Improve Your TripAdvisor Listing

TripAdvisor offers something they refer to as Business Listings, which enables you to add the property’s phone number, address, website, and amenities.

Adding pictures is another crucial aspect of improving your TripAdvisor listing. Properties with at least one photo have a 138% increase in engagement on average compared to properties with no photos.12 In addition, 73% of travelers use photos from other travelers to help them make decisions.13 In this case, seeing really is believing. BeFound & GetChosen

8 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Google Plus Google My Business

Google Plus (formerly Google Places), launched in 2011, is a combination of social media and interactive searching. It allows people to connect through different circles, that include friends, family, acquaintances, and “followers” - the followers section is designed for people to see posts and activity from businesses, or people they don’t know first-hand. Business pages function in a similar way to Facebook and TripAdvisor.

The key benefit from having a Google Plus page is the fact that this affects the Search Engine Optimization, otherwise known as SEO. This means that the more content and activity your page has, the better your position will be when keywords pertaining to your property are entered into Google.

Reviews Responses

Users are required to have a Google Plus Hoteliers need to claim their Google Plus page account in order to leave a review. The majority in order to respond. Once the page is claimed, of the community consists of Gmail Users. The they can respond through the Reviews section review format is simple - guests can rate their by clicking “Manage Reviews.” Once on the stay from 1 to 5 stars, and leave any comments Manage Reviews page, click “View and reply,” or feedback pertaining to their experience. The type in your response, and then click “Submit.” default setting on a Google Plus review page is set to display the “Most Helpful” reviews first, based on Google algorithms. BeFound & GetChosen

9 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Yelp Reviews Yelp Business Features Yelp for Business Owners Yelp allows users to leave a review consisting The first thing you should do is to claim of a 1-5 star rating, the date the review was your business page on Yelp. Once you Yelp is a website that allows users to posted, comment up to 5,000 characters, and have claimed your page you will be able leave a review for a hotel, restaurant, even pictures. Once a review is posted to the to respond to reviews, both privately and and a variety of other local businesses. It business page, other members of the Yelp publicly. Yelp also allows you to track user also encourages a digital community to community can indicate if the review was views on your business page so you can converse about their experience and the useful, funny, or cool by using the interactive see how engaging your page is to potential service provided. icons provided. customers. Lastly, you’ll be able to add photos, links, a phone number and your 82% of Yelp users turned to the site Yelp filters reviews that they do not hours of operation.17 when preparing to spend money at a “recommend,” based on Yelp’s standard 14 local business. With an average of for legitimacy. There is a set of criteria, When too many legitimate positive reviews approximately 139 million monthly unique which a review needs to meet, in order to be are filtered, it can be frustrating for business visitors in Q3 2014, why not create a strong “recommended” on the business page and owners. Fortunately, Travel Media Group’s 15 presence on Yelp for your property? affect the overall rating. This includes, but is client support specialists can provide a not limited to, the reviewer’s Yelp profile, the few tips to help the reviews make it to your Plus, Yelp users are more mobile than extremity of the review (too positive or too business page. other review site members, influencing how negative), and sufficient detail (number of potential guests make buying decisions on- words). Yelp prefers to have reviews published the-go. Through the mobile app, 73 million at the location itself (hence, its heavy mobile unique monthly visitors complete 64% of focus). Reviews can be filtered if they are not searches, leading to tens of thousands of published at the location of the business. direct messages and phone calls to local BeFound & businesses, including hotels.16 GetChosen

10 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Expedia Expedia Partner Central

In 1996, a Microsoft division launched Expedia.com as a more encompassing method to research hotels and book stays. Over the last 19 years, Expedia has become the largest OTA, with 60 million unique monthly visitors.18 Recently, Expedia acquired TripAdvisor, though the two retain their unique formats.

Reviews Responses

Expedia promotes verified reviews. This means Hoteliers can respond through Expedia that when a guest reserves a room through Partner Central, a partnership website which Expedia, the site sends them an email invitation allows hoteliers to respond to reviews on to leave a review roughly 24 to 48 hours after multiple review sites. Hotels have up to 6 their check-out. The review format is similar months to respond to a review from the to TripAdvisor, with hotel cleanliness, service, check-out date of the guest, so a timely condition, comfort and overall satisfaction response is essential. being rated on a 5-point scale. Feedback dialogue is not required.

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11 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Hotels.com Expedia Partner Central

Hotels.com is a division of Expedia, known for its deals and “Price Match GuaranteeTM.” The Hotel Reservations Network was created in 1991, and in 2001 it became part of Expedia, changing its name to Hotels.com in 2002.

Reviews Responses

As an OTA like Expedia, Hotels.com requires Hoteliers can also respond to Hotels.com travelers to book a room through their website reviews using the Expedia Partner Central in order to post a review. The email link is sent website. They can also respond via e-mail upon check-out, and guests have a 5-point by sending a reply to [email protected], scale for rating the overall hotel, the condition, as long as enough relevant information is service, room cleanliness and room comfort. included. Please contact Hotels.com for Travelers can also say whether or not they further details regarding this. would recommend the property and the type of trip they took (leisure, business, etc.).

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12 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Orbitz www.orbitz.com

Orbitz was originally founded in 2001 through a partnership between a few members of the airline industry including Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines - and later American Airlines in order to provide a way to lower their distribution costs.

Reviews Responses

Orbitz lists reviews on a 1 to 5 point scale Orbitz does not allow responses to customer regarding amenities, cleanliness, hotel staff, reviews. However, Expedia recently acquired comfort, location, and value. After factoring all Orbitz in February 2015, leaving the future of these ratings together, Orbitz determines an of Orbitz’s review platform uncertain. Orbitz overall rating and also allows users to indicate may adopt Expedia’s format for manager whether or not they’d recommend the property responses. At Travel Media Group, our to other travelers. An average of all the ratings reputation experts stay aware of changes is then calculated at the top of the page. to major review websites, so you can rest Travelers can only write a review of a hotel if assured that your client support specialist they booked your stay through Orbitz. will inform you if/when the ability to reply to reviews becomes available.

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13 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Booking.com Connect to Booking.com

More than 18 million rooms are booked each month through Booking.com.19 Booking.com currently holds the largest market share of OTA unique customer views. It was created in 1996 and acquired by the Priceline Group in 2005.

Reviews Responses

Guests can only leave a review if they booked On Booking.com hoteliers can only respond a stay through Booking.com, and will directly to the customer, there is not a public receive an invitation after their stay is over. reply feature. On Booking.com reviewers can indicate an overall rating out of 10, as well as the level of cleanliness, comfort, location, facilities, staff, value for the money, and quality of WiFi on a scale of 1 to 10. In addition, travelers can elect to indicate the type of trip they took, the size of the group, the type of room they stayed in, and the duration of their stay. At Travel Media Group, our client support specialists have experience with managing reviews. If you receive a negative review from a guest, we can help you develop an appropriateBeF response.ound & GetChosen

14 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Next Steps For Success

In this document we have outlined some tricks and tips for successful manager interactions on different forums where guests leave feedback about your property and your brand, plus provided a brief overview of some of the most popular review websites. Through actively managing your online reputation, you stand to gain not only rich feedback on the property’s successes and shortcomings, but also use strategic replies to shape the perception of your hotel online.

Creating and maintaining a strong online reputation through one easy-to-use dashboard. presence may sound like a tedious task, but Our program also leverages a branded e-mail with help from Travel Media Group’s wide range campaign to drive more reviews. of digital products, it will not be so daunting. Let Travel Media Group help you We offer products that can help drive walk-in Our newest product, a responsive hotel improve your online reputation! guests and online bookings, influence your website that drives commission-free bookings Contact us today at 877.434.7644 online reputation, and create and maintain by utilizing the brand’s booking engine, or [email protected]. various social media profiles. Our online while integrating our reputation, social and Travel Media Group reputation management program allows you video products seamlessly for an integrated 901 N. Lake Destiny Drive to track, influence, and maintain your online marketing approach. Suite 375 Maitland, FL 32751 877.434.7644

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15 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen Sources

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9. “Trip Advisor Bermuda Travel Summit.” Trip Advisor. N.p., 26 Jan. 2015. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. http://www.slideshare.net/BTA675/trip-advisor-43906245 BeFound & GetChosen

16 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen 10. “About TripAdvisor.” TripAdvisor. N.p., Dec. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. http://www.tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-c6-About_Us.html

11. Brinksman, Jonathan. “How a Higher TripAdvisor Ranking Can Help Hotels Book More Room Nights.” Oracle MICROS Systems Inc. N.p., 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. http://blog.micros.com/2013/04/25/how-a-higher-tripadvisor-ranking-can-help-hotels-book-more-room-nights/

12. Mayzlin, Dina. “Promotional Reviews: An Empirical Investigation of Online Review Manipulation.” The American Economic Review 104.8 (2014): 2421-455. Web. http://t4binsights-cache.tripadvisor.com/TripAdvisorInsights/sites/default/files/pdf_links/26309_pcw_infographic_en_us.pdf

13. “Hotelmarketing’com Daily Must-reads for Hotel Marketers.” TripAdvisor Study Reveals Key Factors Driving Hotel Engagement. Hotelmarketing.com, 4 Sept. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/tripadvisor_study_reveals_key_factors_driving_hotel_engagement#sthash.eenjTPBL.dpuf

14. W, Rachel. “Official Blog “We Know Just the Place.”” ‘Yelp Official Blog’ Yelp, 2 Sept. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. http://officialblog.yelp.com/2014/09/yelp-consumer-alerts-helping-you-make-educated-spending-decisions.html

15. “Yelp.” About Us. Yelp, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. http://www.yelp.com/about

16. Remmers, Morgan. “Yelp.” Business Owner’s Blog. Yelp, 5 Jan. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. https://biz.yelp.com/blog

17. “Yelp.” Claiming Your Business. Yelp, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. https://biz.yelp.com/support/claiming

18. “About - Expedia, Inc.” Expedia Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. http://www.expediainc.com/about/

19. “Booking.com: 603,010 Hotels Worldwide. Book Your Hotel Now!”Booking.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. http://www.booking.com/content/about.html BeFound & GetChosen

17 Hoteliers’ Guide to Responding to Online Reviews BeFound & GetChosen